Top Ten Global Weather Events of 2012

It was another year of incredible weather extremes globally during 2012. The year featured two of the most expensive weather disasters in world history--Hurricane Sandy and the Great U.S. Drought of 2012, which will both cost more than $50 billion. Thankfully, no disasters had a death toll in excess of 2,000, though the 1,901 people dead or missing due to Super Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines may rank as that nation's 2nd deadliest typhoon ever. Twenty-six weather disasters costing at least $1 billion occurred globally, according to insurance broker AON Benfield. Eleven billion-dollar weather disasters hit the U.S., a figure exceeded only by the fourteen such disasters in 2011. Nine billion-dollar weather disasters hit China, their highest total in a decade of record-keeping. I present for you, now, the top ten global weather stories of 2012, chosen for their meteorological significance and human and economic impact:

1) New Record Minimum for Arctic Sea Ice (September 16)Sea ice extent in the Arctic fell to 3.41 million square kilometers on September 16, breaking the previous all-time low set in 2007 by 18%--despite the fact that 2012's Arctic weather was much cloudier and cooler than in 2007. Nearly half (49%) of the icecap was gone during 2012s minimum, compared to the average minimum for the years 1979 - 2000. This is an area approximately 43% of the size of the contiguous United States. And, for the fifth consecutive year--and fifth time in recorded history--ice-free navigation was possible in the Arctic along the coast of Canada (the Northwest Passage), and along the coast of Russia (the Northeast Passage or Northern Sea Route.) "We are now in uncharted territory," said NSIDC Director Mark Serreze. "While we've long known that as the planet warms up, changes would be seen first and be most pronounced in the Arctic, few of us were prepared for how rapidly the changes would actually occur. While lots of people talk about opening of the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic islands and the Northern Sea Route along the Russian coast, twenty years from now from now in August you might be able to take a ship right across the Arctic Ocean." Arctic sea ice is an important component of the global climate system. The polar ice caps help to regulate global temperature by reflecting sunlight back into space. White snow and ice at the poles reflects sunlight, but dark ocean absorbs it. Replacing bright sea ice with dark ocean is a recipe for more and faster global warming. The fall air temperature over the Arctic has increased by 4 - 6°F in the past decade, and we could already be seeing the impacts of this warming in the mid-latitudes, by an increase in extreme weather events. Another non-trivial impact of the absence of sea ice is that is causes increased melting in Greenland, contributing to sea level rise.

Figure 1. A sunny, slushy day near the North Pole on September 1, 2012. Webcam image courtesy of the North Pole Environmental Observatory. It won't be many years before Santa's workshop needs pontoons in the summer to stay afloat.

2) Agricultural Drought in the U.S., Europe, and Asia (Summer)Drought is civilization's great enemy, and the most dangerous threat from global warming. Drought impacts the two things we need to live--food and water. When the rains stop and the soil dries up, cities die and civilizations collapse, as people abandon lands no longer able to supply them with the food and water they need to live. In a harbinger of things to come, severe droughts affected important agricultural regions across the globe during summer 2012, including eastern Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and central North America. Wheat, corn, and soybean crops were among those heavily impacted; global food prices rose by 10 percent during July. While it will be several months before the costs of America's worst drought since the 1930s Dust Bowl are known, the 2012 drought is expected to cut America's GDP by 0.5 - 1 percentage points, said Deutsche Bank Securities. Since the U.S. GDP is approximately $15 trillion, the drought of 2012 represents a $75 - $150 billion hit to the U.S. economy. This is in the same range as the estimate of $77 billion in costs for the drought, made by Purdue University economist Chris Hurt in August, and the Great U.S. Drought of 2012 is going to be one of the top-five most expensive weather disasters in world history.

3) Superstorm Sandy (October 29)Hurricane Sandy was the most powerful and second most destructive Atlantic hurricane in recorded history. Ten hours before landfall, at 9:30 am EDT October 29, the total energy of Sandy's winds of tropical storm-force and higher peaked at 329 terajoules--the highest value for any Atlantic hurricane since at least 1969, and equivalent to more than five Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs. At landfall, Sandy's tropical storm-force winds spanned 943 miles of the the U.S. coast. No hurricane on record has been larger. Sandy's huge size prompted high wind warnings to be posted from Chicago to Eastern Maine, and from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Florida's Lake Okeechobee--an area home to 120 million people. Sandy's winds simultaneously caused damage to buildings on the shores of Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes National Lake Shore, and toppled power lines in Nova Scotia, Canada--locations 1200 miles apart! Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City, NJ on October 29, with sustained winds of 80 mph and a central minimum pressure of 946 mb--the lowest pressure on record along the Northeast coast. The Battery, in New York City Harbor, had an observed water level of 13.88 feet, besting the previous record set by Hurricane Donna in 1960 by 3 feet. Sandy's catastrophic storm surge was responsible for the majority of the 131 deaths and $62 billion in damage in the U.S. Sandy also brought torrential rainfall in excess of 12 inches to the mid-Atlantic, and blizzard conditions to the central and southern Appalachians. Sandy's late-season show of unprecedented strength, unusual track, and exceptionally damaging storm surge were made more likely due to climate change, and the storm helped bring more awareness and debate about the threat of climate change to the U.S. than any event since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

4) Greenland Ice Sheet melt and Glacier Calving (July)Measurements from three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the Greenland ice sheet had undergone thawing at or near the surface. But during four consecutive days July 11 - 14, temperatures rose above freezing at the top of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is 10,551 feet (3216 meters) above sea level and 415 miles (670 km) north of the Arctic Circle. Melting of the ice sheet dramatically accelerated, and an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface had thawed by July 12. This was the greatest melt since 1889, according to ice core records. On July 16, an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan calved from the Petermann Glacier in Northeast Greenland. This was the second huge ice island to calve from the glacier since 2010. The glacier's margins have now retreated to the farthest point in the last 150 years. The record melt in Greenland caused the highest loss of ice mass observed in the satellite era, and melting from Greenland is now thought to cause about 0.7 mm/year of global sea level rise, which is about 20 - 25% of the global total.

Figure 4. The massive 46 square-mile iceberg two times the size of Manhattan that calved from Greenland's Petermann Glacier on July 16, 2012, as seen on July 21, 2012, using MODIS satellite imagery. Image credit: NASA.

5) Super Typhoon Bopha (December 3 - 4)The deadliest weather disaster of 2012 was Super Typhoon Bopha. Bopha was the strongest typhoon ever hit the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, making landfall as a Category 5 super typhoon with winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) on December 3. Bopha made two additional landfalls in the Philippines, on central Visayas and on Palawan, on December 4. The typhoon left 1901 people dead or missing, mostly on the island of Mindanao. If the missing people are presumed dead, this total would make Bopha the 2nd deadliest typhoon in Philippine history. Bopha affected over 5.4 million people and left over 700,000 people homeless. With damages estimated at $1.04 billion, Bopha is the most costly typhoon ever to hit the Philippines. The previous record was the $600 million price tag of 2009's Typhoon Parma.

6) Northern Hemisphere Warmth (throughout 2012)Land areas in the Northern Hemisphere reached record warm monthly values for four consecutive months (April - July). Much of the unusual warmth occurred in North America; Canada was 3rd warmest on record for the period January- September, and the United States had its warmest year on record. Many European countries and Russia had record to near-record warm summer temperatures in 2012.

Figure 6. This young lady chose to cool her heels in the Fox River on June 28, 2012, as the temperature was topping 102 degrees in Carpentersville, IL imag credit: wunderphotographer pjpix.

7) Eurasian Continent Cold Wave (January 24 - February 17)Europe's worst cold snap in at least 26 years hit central and eastern Europe hard during a 3-week period in late January and the first half of February. The 824 deaths being blamed on the cold wave made it 2012's second deadliest weather disaster. Parts of the Danube River froze over for the first time in 25 years, and Northeast China through eastern Inner Mongolia recorded extremely cold minimum temperatures ranging between -30°C to -40°C.

8) China Floods (July 21 - 22)Torrential downpours on July 21 - 22 affected Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, with several stations recording their highest daily precipitation on record. Mentougou recorded an impressive 305.2 mm (12 inches) of precipitation in one day. The floods killed 129 people and did $4.8 billion in damage, one of a record nine billion-dollar weather disasters to affect China in 2012.

Figure 8. A Chinese man uses a signboard to signal motorists driving through flooded street following a heavy rain in Beijing Saturday, July 21, 2012. China's government says these were the heaviest rains to hit Beijing in six decades. The torrential downpour left low-lying streets flooded and knocked down trees. (AP Photo)

9) Pakistan Floods (August 21 - September 30)Torrential monsoon rains caused deadly floods in Pakistan, with Balochistan, Punjab, and Sindh provinces the hardest hit. Over 5 million people and over 400,000 hectares of crops were affected by the floods, with more than 460,000 houses and infrastructures damaged or destroyed. The death toll of 455 made it Earth's 3rd deadliest weather-related disaster of 2012.

10) African Floods (July - October)Heavy rains in Nigeria killed at least 431, making it Earth's 4th deadliest weather disaster of 2012. Over 3 million people were affected by flooding across 15 countries in Africa, most notably Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, and Chad. The floods destroyed farmlands, homes, and schools, and caused outbreaks of cholera and other diseases.

By the way, is there any ongoing real-time measurement of what (in milliwatts / M^2, say) the sun is hitting the earth with across the whole spectrum? Is the ongoing variation is as dramatic as it is with the Xrays as per the space weather site...?

Quoting washingtonian115: Thankfully many invasive species(except for a specific few) are killed of here thanks to the winter months.So those snakes and lizard problems you guys have down there they couldn't survive up here.Maybe for only a few months they could..

They do quite well in sewers and similar below ground systems ... New York City has some amazing tales related to that. They sound like urban legend.... but some of them are true.

Quoting Skyepony:There's frustration among Torres Strait Island communities, after funding to fix the sea walls was approved, but at the expense of other key infrastructure. There's frustration among Torres Strait Island communities, which have been battling flooding at king tides every year for the past decade. The Queensland government today announced it will match federal funding of $12 million to repair damaged sea walls, but it that has come at a cost to other major infrastructure. Two months ago, islanders were asked if they wanted to redirect Major Infrastructure Project (MIP) funds to the wall. Using MIP funds will mean that other priorities such as sewage systems for Hammond Island and desalination plants for other islands without water will not go ahead. The National Seachange taskforce predicts that Australian waters will rise by 1.1 metres by the 2020. As yet, there has been no need for families on any island to relocate. The other four affected islands are Coconut, Yam, Warraber and Yorke Islands.

Well, some people dont follow the warnings and a person drowned in Loiza PR.

The strong waves of pine nuts yesterday caused the second drowning there this year, on this occasion, a 40-year-old man, Juan Sánchez Hernández.

The individual, a merchant father of three children (8, 15 and 17 years), was enjoying a family picnic in the area of La Pocita of Loíza.

According to agent Enrique Alverio, Sanchez Hernandez was standing on a reef next to his eight year old son and a friend when strong waves dragged them offshore. His friend and the child managed to return to shore. The body of the deceased was spotted by a police helicopter to a quarter of a mile from the shore, after which it was rescued.

"A coup occurred in the head, forehead, apparently was unconscious", said Alverio Rivera.

Child Correa, of the State Agency for the management of emergency and disaster management, regretted what happened since, he said, in the area is it had warned, in captions, of the danger of strong hangovers. "Be warned but is discretion of the person," he said.

Rose Velazquez, of the Office of emergency management, Loíza, said that even searched the body of a tourist drowned in the area on 1 January. "Everything has a purpose of the Lord," said, meanwhile, the daughter of the deceased, who yesterday was late together widow, brothers and other relatives waiting in the grounds of the maritime unit of Loiza for Institute of forensic sciences collected the body.

Quoting washingtonian115: Now that's one thing that makes me angry is that now the Everglades has become one big snake infestation.Unfortunately the warm moist tropical environment supports their growth/expansion.Maybe if you guys had a couple of days in the 20's down there that'll kill off half of them.I see pictures of alligators and other animals being swallowed whole.Disgusting.

"A couple of days in the '20's" would kill off many things, .... trees, sagos, manatees ... but probably not snakes.

Quoting LargoFl:yeah its all over the news..i just watched a show on that snake..the hunter who has lived in the glades all his life said those snakes can eat a BEAR!!..sorry Peta but that snake has no business being in florida..some jerk many years ago let loose some snakes in the glades NOW look at their population..it has no business being in florida,after awhile it will start spreading out into populated area's..just imagine your child siding up to one..look mommy a snake..geez

Actually, I recall reading some years ago that there had been an exotic animal importer, with a huge inventory, directly in the path of Andrew, back in '92. There was no trace of the operation in which they had been housed, once the storm was over. I understand that there are all sorts of pestilent creatures now in South Florida, not native to the area... monitors, pythons ...

Dry, mostly cloudy, got down to only 34, forecasted low was in the 20's. Really not bad, still praying for rain. It rains once then it is weeks or months before it rains again here that equals drought every time, LOL. Have a great day!

Quoting AussieStorm:@Quakeprediction predicts a 7.4 quake likely from the LA Airport to Oceanside area in a 1/17-1/22 window.

*NOTE*

Remember, KNOW ONE can predict a quake. Any quake prediction is just a guess and 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% wrong.

Oh, brother. Don't talk to me about @Quakeprediction. I've been following them since September 2011 and I still have yet to see them correctly predict a quake. By the way, a few days ago the window ended around today. Now they're just shifting the time frame a week later. Large California earthquakes are notoriously hard to predict. I'll be surprised if they get this one right, or any other quake for that matter.

Now I admit, I still maintain that I did indirectly predict the 2010 Chile earthquake, though that was probably just a fluke, as I saw an ENSO-related surface water anomaly offshore the 1960 Valdivia zone in the two weeks leading up to the quake. I did not predict the Haiti earthquake or the Japan earthquake.

Quoting PalmBeachWeather:wash.....Snake are not the only problem here in south Florida, These are a few of the non-native species brought into Florida...Some as pets, some brought in to help eradicate another harmful species..... We have the Bufo Toad which kills our pets due to their deadly secretions.See them all of the time. A few Monitor Lizards have been spotted also. It's south Florida's tropical climate that helps these invasive creatures survive.. I have been fishing in some of the freshwater canal with my bf... I swear I have seen over 100 Iguanas...Big, Big, Bull Iguanas 7 foot long.Lat year I caught this fish while I had a shiner out for Largemouth bass in Lake Osborne. I hooked a big fish . I thought I had a monster fish. Which I did... It had to be 30" long... I had no idea what it was.. I took pictures. It swallowed the hook and died... FWC look at my pictures... It was a "Clown Knife Fish" They said it was producing like mad in Lake Osborne... Scary

Much of the problem is these local reptile stores that sell this cute little python, cute little snake, etc. Not using there head they forget that cute little python will weigh 100 pounds very soon... What do they do? They take the freekin' snake to the local park or lake when it gets too big to handle....

Quoting PalmBeachWeather:wash.....Snake are not the only problem here in south Florida, These are a few of the non-native species brought into Florida...Some as pets, some brought in to help eradicate another harmful species..... We have the Bufo Toad which kills our pets due to their deadly secretions.See them all of the time. A few Monitor Lizards have been spotted also. It's south Florida's tropical climate that helps these invasive creatures survive.. I have been fishing in some of the freshwater canal with my bf... I swear I have seen over 100 Iguanas...Big, Big, Bull Iguanas 7 foot long.Lat year I caught this fish while I had a shiner out for Largemouth bass in Lake Osborne. I hooked a big fish . I thought I had a monster fish. Which I did... It had to be 30" long... I had no idea what it was.. I took pictures. It swallowed the hook and died... FWC look at my pictures... It was a "Clown Knife Fish" They said it was producing like mad in Lake Osborne... Scary

Thankfully many invasive species(except for a specific few) are killed of here thanks to the winter months.So those snakes and lizard problems you guys have down there they couldn't survive up here.Maybe for only a few months they could..

Quoting washingtonian115:Look how well they blend in with the environment.Those types of snakes either originated in china/India/Africa.

wash.....Snake are not the only problem here in south Florida, These are a few of the non-native species brought into Florida...Some as pets, some brought in to help eradicate another harmful species..... We have the Bufo Toad which kills our pets due to their deadly secretions.See them all of the time. A few Monitor Lizards have been spotted also. It's south Florida's tropical climate that helps these invasive creatures survive.. I have been fishing in some of the freshwater canal with my bf... I swear I have seen over 100 Iguanas...Big, Big, Bull Iguanas 7 foot long.Lat year I caught this fish while I had a shiner out for Largemouth bass in Lake Osborne. I hooked a big fish . I thought I had a monster fish. Which I did... It had to be 30" long... I had no idea what it was.. I took pictures. It swallowed the hook and died... FWC look at my pictures... It was a "Clown Knife Fish" They said it was producing like mad in Lake Osborne... Scary

The plants and animals here are very confused. Trees are kicking out pollin in mid January. Azaleas are blooming.Lizards think it is spring time too making my yard look like a mini Jurassic Park. Even st Augustine grass lawns are growing with night time lows in the mid 50's. We aren't supposed to have to mow every weekend in January!The medieval fair patrons will melt in their fur and leather costumes if something doesn't change soon.

Quoting Minnemike: that's dandy for you Aussie, but why even 'post tripe' in the first place?that's what i find sickening; that people blindly pass off dangerous nonsense, fear-inducing nonsense, and don't give a hoot to look into accuracy. this is what leads to so many debates becoming so heavily polarized!Misinformation.

you'd think they'd give up after predicting it so often and nothing happens, I guess a broken clock is right twice a day. Maybe they'll be right sooner or later, then they'll say, we predicted it. What a load of hogwash.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED AN ICE STORMWARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST THIS EVENING. THEWINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* TIMING: FREEZING RAIN LOOKS TO START AROUND MID MORNING MONDAY AND PERSIST INTO THE LATE AFTERNOON WITH FREEZING DRIZZLE POSSIBLE INTO THE EVENING.

* MAIN IMPACT: ICE ACCUMULATION OF O.10 TO 0.25 INCH IS EXPECTED WITH SOME HIGHER ACCUMULATIONS AROUND 0.50 INCH POSSIBLE

* OTHER IMPACTS: THE PRIMARY IMPACT WILL BE ICE ACCUMULATIONS ON ELEVATED SURFACES SUCH AS BRIDGES...TREES AND POWER LINES. THIS WILL CAUSE VERY DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS AT MANY LOCATIONS. ALTHOUGH ROADWAYS REMAIN RELATIVELY WARM FROM THE PREVIOUS WARM DAYS...SOME ICING ON ROADS WILL BE POSSIBLE AS WELL. ACCUMULATING ICE ON TREES AND POWER LINES MAY CAUSE THEM TO FALL...RESULTING IN DOWNED LINES AND SUBSEQUENT POWER OUTAGES.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

AN ICE STORM WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS AREEXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF ICE ACCUMULATIONS WILLMAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS OR IMPOSSIBLE. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP ANEXTRA FLASHLIGHT...FOOD...AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF ANEMERGENCY. ICE ACCUMULATIONS AND WINDS WILL LIKELY LEAD TO SNAPPEDPOWER LINES AND FALLING TREE BRANCHES THAT ADD TO THE DANGER.

Quoting AussieStorm:Unfortunately some people believe this tripe. I certainately do not believe this prediction It has spawned other twitter accounts predicting quakes around Japan. It's sickening.

that's dandy for you Aussie, but why even 'post tripe' in the first place?that's what i find sickening; that people blindly pass off dangerous nonsense, fear-inducing nonsense, and don't give a hoot to look into accuracy. this is what leads to so many debates becoming so heavily polarized!Misinformation.

There's frustration among Torres Strait Island communities, after funding to fix the sea walls was approved, but at the expense of other key infrastructure. There's frustration among Torres Strait Island communities, which have been battling flooding at king tides every year for the past decade. The Queensland government today announced it will match federal funding of $12 million to repair damaged sea walls, but it that has come at a cost to other major infrastructure. Two months ago, islanders were asked if they wanted to redirect Major Infrastructure Project (MIP) funds to the wall. Using MIP funds will mean that other priorities such as sewage systems for Hammond Island and desalination plants for other islands without water will not go ahead. The National Seachange taskforce predicts that Australian waters will rise by 1.1 metres by the 2020. As yet, there has been no need for families on any island to relocate. The other four affected islands are Coconut, Yam, Warraber and Yorke Islands.

Quoting washingtonian115:It is very moist and warm outside right now.Which feels very disgusting especially for this time a year.If winter is going to be like this I might as well start renting out a house in Florida.Thats what it feels like at the moment.Winter come back and kick spring in the a**.

Hahaha so you wouldn`t like Honduras at all :) Where I live temperatures vary from 28C to 33C sorry not good at Fahrenheit as we use celcius more but I think 30C is 86F

SURVEY_SUMMARY: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS SURVEYEDDAMAGE FROM A STRONG EF-1 TORNADO THAT BEGAN 7 MILES SE OF FRIERSON LAIN DE SOTO PARISH. MANY SNAPPED HARDWOOD TREES WERE OBSERVED NEAR THEINITIAL TOUCH DOWN. THE TORNADO THEN TRACKED NORTHEAST INTO RED RIVER PARISH...15 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF HALL SUMMIT CAUSING MAJOR DAMAGE TO A HOME AND TREESON PARISH ROAD 410. THE TORNADO THEN CROSSED HWY 1...15 MILES SE OF THESHREVEPORT CITY LIMITS CAUSING MORE SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO TWO VEHICLES AND TWO TRAVEL TRAILERS AT THE PETRO HAWK NATURAL GAS SITE OFF OF HWY 1. TWO PEOPLE WHO WERE LOCATED IN THE TRAVEL TRAILER SUSTAINED INJURIES DURING THIS TORNADIC EVENT. THE TORNADO FINALLY DISSIPATED AS IT APPROACHED THE RED RIVER.TREES TRUNKS WERE COMMONLY SNAPPED ALONG THE ENTIRE PATH. THIS DAMAGE ISCONSISTENT WITH AN EF-1 TORNADO WITH ESTIMATED WINDS NEAR 110 MPH.

you'd think they'd give up after predicting it so often and nothing happens, I guess a broken clock is right twice a day. Maybe they'll be right sooner or later, then they'll say, we predicted it. What a load of hogwash.

Quoting Minnemike:http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/quake.aspwhy so irresponsible Aussie.. by now, you Have to understand what the Internet is, and produces, and you Have to do Your own homework to be responsible.

please don't be so irresponsible!

Unfortunately some people believe this tripe. I certainately do not believe this prediction It has spawned other twitter accounts predicting quakes around Japan. It's sickening.